Melissa Etheridge: Rockin' On
with the Revival Tour

By Margaret Michniewicz

"Fearless, committed, compassionate, and grounded: Melissa Etheridge embodies my idea of strong women," declares 35-year old Sherry Hutto, a registered nurse in Burlington.

The inspirational qualities that Hutto points to, as do so many of her fellow Etheridge fans, are what make the singer so much more than just a pop rock star.

The Grammy - and now Oscar - award-winning musician will bring her "Revival Tour" to Vermont with a July 26 Shelburne performance, in support of her latest album, The Awakening. Released last September, it was named one of Rolling Stone Magazine's Top 50 Albums of 2007, a year that began with the 47-year-old Etheridge celebrating a career milestone by winning in the "Best Song" category at the Academy Awards for "I Need to Wake Up," written for Al Gore's global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth. About The Awakening a Rolling Stone reviewer wrote: "Melissa Etheridge finds both a depth and an ease that eluded her on previous releases. She's never had a problem with passion - which is still present in boatloads here - but now she has discovered restraint, fun and the joys of pop."

This is Etheridge's first tour - and first return to Vermont - since her diagnosis and treatment for cancer in 2004, and her devoted Green Mountain State fans are eagerly awaiting her. Etheridge spoke with Vermont Woman in May, just prior to setting out on the road. Speaking by phone from her home in California, she addressed a wide array of topics ranging from her current album and upcoming tour, to presidential candidates, medical marijuana, gay marriage and parental rights, and the politics of health issues.

Redefining Lucky

In February 2004, Etheridge released her seventh album, Lucky. Eight months later, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Rather than bemoaning it as tragic irony, with Etheridge it's more likely she would consider it presciently apropos.

"My cancer experience, when I look back on it, was a gift to me," Etheridge explains philosophically. "I'm extremely grateful for my body giving me a warning as to what I need to do, and helping me find balance. I [had] never stopped touring - I started working when I was 11 years old - and it wasn't until I was 43 that I stopped: and laid in bed and didn't do anything - for 10 weeks - and that was an amazing experience on its own - finding stillness was amazing and I found my… my spirits."

This forced down-time - despite the rigors of the chemotherapy treatments she underwent - enabled Etheridge to pause and reflect deeply on her life, career, and future. "Although I believe this medical practice of chemotherapy to be rather barbaric," she writes in the liner notes of The Awakening, "I walked away from the experience enlightened. I no longer fear death, nor so many of the aspects I used to fear about life."

Though she notes that all her albums are reflective of her life journey ("I've always written from a very personal point of view"), she crafted The Awakening to be a more encompassing "concept album" that will take listeners from the time the 20-something Midwesterner headed to Los Angeles seeking fame and fortune as an aspiring singer/songwriter/guitarist, through her rise to rock star, human rights activist, parent, and cancer survivor; to how it has all culminated in her subsequent philosophical and spiritual outlook.

Setting out with the ambitious goal of creating a concept album with The Awakening, "I hope people listen to it from beginning to end at least one time," she says earnestly, citing as her inspiration Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions. "I try to take the listener on that journey from beginning to end. I specifically wanted to create a moment like when I was a teenager, and I'd go out and buy an album and I'd run home and put on the first song and listen all the way through, and John Lennon would speak to me, and Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder. I wanted to create that sort of piece."

Etheridge hails from Leavenworth, Kansas, roots that are apparent through the lingering twang in her husky voice despite living in California for the last two decades. She taught herself to play guitar at age eight and penned her first song at the ripe age of 10. In her teens she played in a number of bands, and successfully applied to Boston's renowned Berklee School of Music. She dropped out after completing one year, and in 1982 moved to Los Angeles with the goal of making it big as a rock musician. She did - as evidenced by over half a dozen gold and platinum records, two Grammies, an Oscar, and a number of other achievement awards and honors she's earned over the past 20 years.

Yes She Is

During the 1993 inaugural celebrations of President Bill Clinton Etheridge first publicly acknowledged her sexual orientation when, according to her press bio "it was considered less than prudent to do so." Fast-forward to August 2007: in what could be seen as a true sign of progress on more than one front, Etheridge was a panelist for the history-making Presidential Forum on LGBT Issues, sponsored by the gay and lesbian cable channel Logo. One of the candidates grilled by the panel: presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton.

In the final song of The Awakening, "What Happens Tomorrow", Etheridge writes:

I believe a woman can work hard and succeed
And we could be content
To believe that she could be in charge
Of the free
And be the president
If not now, when
If not today then
What happens tomorrow

Don't take that as an endorsement, however: when the primary season began, Etheridge was, as she puts it, out there throwing her support to Dennis Kucinich. "I just think he needs to be heard," she explains. "His platform is where I'm at… The future of politics and the future of America is what he's talking about. But he's way ahead of his time - so, he was not going to be elected."

Etheridge was praised widely for her performance on the panel, which was comprised mostly of professional journalists; she laughs heartily at the mention that even Bill O'Reilly of Fox News had lauded her. (According to a September 10, 2007 article in The New York Times, O'Reilly is quoted as saying "I think Etheridge should do 'Meet the Press,'" calling her "a tougher interviewer than most network news guys." NBC, are you listening?)

"I was so honored. [It was] my big old celebrity-ness that had me on that panel," Etheridge says self-deprecatingly. "I was very grateful and hoped that I represented my community in a way that they could be proud of. I went on there thinking, I want to be the personal side of this.

"The media is just such a funny place," she adds. "I found it to be a rather, ah, 'enlightening' experience actually!"

Etheridge has altered her touring schedule over the past 10 years, adjusting her extended concert dates to the summertime. As she told Billboard.com earlier this year, "I'm a mother, and that's absolutely first. [When] my kids (daughter Bailey Jean and son Beckett) are in school… I need to be there. My priorities come with my family." (One wonders how many rock stars quoted in Billboard Magazine have adjusted their concert schedule around the kids' school recitals?)

Bailey Jean, 11, and Beckett, 9, are Etheridge's children with her former partner Julie Cypher (with the help of an added ingredient from fellow musician David Crosby - it was Crosby's wife, apparently, who suggested he help out Etheridge and Cypher when they expressed their desire to have a child together). In addition, Etheridge now has 21-month-old twins (Johnnie Rose and Miller Steven), born to wife Tammy, with whom she exchanged vows in a 2003 commitment ceremony. Etheridge says Tammy and the twins will be accompanying her on the summer tour. "Work is a big part of me and I love my work and I love creating - and, I love my family - so, it's a joy wherever I am and I don't want to be taking away from either," Etheridge says. "Finding that balance is very important and a big part of what I do."

At the time of our conversation, the California Supreme Court had just days before struck down the ban against same-sex marriage, declaring it unconstitutional. I asked Etheridge for her reaction to the ruling.

"Yippee!" she cheered exuberantly.

"It just feels so nice," she continued. "Well you, in Vermont, you were the first to sort of step in, and then Massachusetts. And now: just to have the High Court say 'nope, that's wrong, you can't do that, you can't lock these people out.' And, every year when I do my taxes, seeing how penalized we are - as families - those of us who live and exist in the system that we have here, yet cannot benefit from it and know every day the discrimination and how it feels - it was just a joyous [moment].

"We're all moving in the right direction, we are going to get there - [albeit] slowly," she laughs ruefully, "but we're getting there."

Does Etheridge believe marriage is preferable to just civil unions?

"There are over a thousand rights that you get when you get married and [heterosexual] people don't think of it, they just sort of take it for granted and don't realize [the disparity/the inequality]," Etheridge replies. "We don't want to go in your churches and turn them upside down and get married and [force this] upon you - really, we don't," she laughs. "What we want is to be able to have our families, and have our households. America has a wonderful system of helping families and protecting them and giving them these rights.

"[But] when you are outside of that, [as a gay person] you end up paying more, and losing rights," she continues. "Your children don't have any rights to anything you have; children can be taken away from you; you can't see your partner in the hospital… There are [matters in which] you have nothing to hold on to when discrimination comes, when people's fear and prejudice comes and they want to push you aside… Right now, they can. And it's legalization [of gay marriage], it's laws like this that not only help the gay community and all that we're [about] but it helps our whole society push through our differences - and that's going to be good for all of us."

Etheridge's own experience with Cypher highlights the need for equality under the law. "I used to say I want gay marriage so I can have gay divorce!" Etheridge laughs. "Because, in California, if [Julie and] I had been married: what you do is, 'You take half, I take half, thank you very much, bye bye' - and there's no taxes on anybody, it just gets [divided] up. But [for us] to do that, to divide the household after ten years - anything that was given to her, she had to pay taxes on and I had to pay taxes on it! It [goes] very deep, and it's things people don't realize… And then there's the legal cost of everything… I don't know how people who don't have money do it!" she adds.

One of the Only Ones, Still

"Female rock icons are really a rare breed - Melissa Etheridge is one of that small class with integrity and real musical strength and a rock 'n roll soul, who has also maintained control over her creative voice," says Addison County fan and Vermont Woman contributor Cindy Hill, who is herself a musician. "There really aren't many others. Joan Jett, [Ann and Nancy Wilson] of Heart, Stevie Nicks, Madonna… [But] even today, my daughter says 'Girls aren't in bands, their boyfriends are - except for stupid girl-bands.' What an image! Sad, and sadder still that it remains true. At least there are a few role models out there like Melissa Etheridge."

Etheridge's current band lineup only includes two other women, as backup singers, but she says that isn't always the case.

"Whenever I go to put my bands together I always look for women," Etheridge maintains. "Once I had a female keyboard player in, I think, '89 or '90. I have women working for me backstage and in my production company, which is all fun and good - but… I won't just give the job to a woman because she's a woman, because I wouldn't want it to go the other way, either - Oh, I had a female drummer a few tours ago and that was really fun. And so, every now and then I get one - but right now these guys are the ones who are doin' it."

So with Etheridge, then, we have a prominent (though not multitudinous) example of women who most certainly can play guitar (not to mention piano). Hopefully the inspirational message will increasingly emanate to girls out there: form your own group, don't just be a groupie.

Vermont's own preeminent singer/songwriter/rockin' guitarist Steph Pappas admires Etheridge for this and many other reasons. "What's not to like about a woman rockin' out on a guitar?!" Pappas exclaims. And more importantly, as Pappas points out, a woman who is leading the rest of the band; who will, for example, raise her hand to signal for more bass or a change of tempo - and to whom all the musicians must look for their cues.

Not to mention how Etheridge sings her heart out, Pappas adds. "The passion in her live shows is intense," says the Burlingtonian, who has been to two of Etheridge's previous Vermont concerts. "There aren't many performers who have that [degree of] passion."

Ever Brave and Crazy

When Etheridge does return here to play, she will be her own tough act to follow - for, a performance given in February of 2005 is seared into the consciousness of the millions who saw it televised on the Grammy Awards program (and have repeatedly watched it on YouTube since). It was a tribute to Janis Joplin, featuring the song "Piece of My Heart." It was just months into Etheridge's chemotherapy treatments but out she charged, bald and bold, intense and vibrant. And though Etheridge had the tough act of the legendary Joplin to follow - there she was belting it out, with lively, sparkly eyes, mischievous and playfully sexy, evoking anything but pathos… yet matching Joplin's passion nonetheless. It was a powerful and truly legendary moment.

"When I think of Melissa Etheridge, I always think of [that] Grammy performance and her comeback from cancer in a very public way," remarks Erin O'Connor Harding, a Westminster native now living in Colorado. "She really put herself out there as an inspiration to others."

In October of 2005, Etheridge released Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled, which included a song she entitled "I Run for Life" commissioned by Ford Cares as part of their cancer initiative supporting the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

But it's not only through performing that Etheridge is an advocate for cancer survivors and related health issues - she is, as with so many other social/political/cultural issues of our time, candid and outspoken about moving beyond the status quo, pushing the envelope for change from standard operating practice, so to speak.

"I'm doing great," Etheridge said in an interview earlier this year with a Hawaii magazine. "I'm all clear for three years now [and]… I'm actually healthier than I was… There are more of us (cancer survivors) than they know. We're almost half the population in the U.S."

Asked to elaborate on this, Etheridge returned to her personal experience. "When I look at [cancer]," Etheridge says, "I see it as a symptom: it's a symptom of bodies and souls and minds Out. Of. Balance. [Regarding] my own experience: whenever I would go to any of the doctors - any of the numerous doctors that I went to, they would all start by saying (she affects an officious tone) 'Cancer starts when cells go bad. And then they would go from there. And then they'd tell me Blah blah blah blah blah and [this is what we do] and blah blah blah blah blah… And I'd say, 'well, what makes cells go bad?'… and they never answered me. And I had to go searching myself - cells go bad when the body is out of balance, when there's too much acid and not enough alkaline - that comes from your diet, that comes from your stress and emotional well-being… that's it! I can't bottle it and sell it [laughs] but that's it - and I think we know that, yet we think it's okay to just sidestep it - it's like playing Russian roulette every day."

Etheridge is unwavering in her conviction that the use of medical marijuana should be legal, a stand she took in an October 2005 interview on NBC's Dateline.

"I think it's a very important thing that we [change the law]," she replies. "I think it's one of the most ridiculous things, the prohibition on marijuana - that I can go down to the gas station and buy a beer and cigarettes which are infinitely more dangerous than marijuana - infinitely. There's no death by marijuana (laughs heartily)… [there are no fights caused] by marijuana - you never hear this. And to deny it to people who need it… I made the choice [during my cancer treatment] not to take the pain pill and the constipation pill and the sleeping pill - all these pills, all that had side effects and that were terribly addictive. Instead of all that, give me the one herb that has no side effects and is actually good for you. I'll take that.

"It's ridiculous," she continues. "It says so much about our whole medical system."

What Happens Tomorrow?

"My whole purpose behind the album was to take the listener from what maybe I thought they knew of me and took them along and told them my story in a short manner," Etheridge explains. "Look this is what happened to me - this is the spirit I found because my life was stopped by cancer - but don't wait till your life stops, maybe you don't have to get cancer, maybe you can balance yourself out before… Come on, let's go!

"I'm a lot of things… and I'm very grateful that I get to make music as my life - that's been my work - I'm extremely grateful," she says. "I am so hopeful not only for myself but for US - not only Americans but the human race - I think we are headed for amazing times and we're making it right now - all of us - and I feel inspired and excited and I would like to inspire and excite - and that's what this last album is about and that's definitely what this tour is about."

You'll be performing at a beautiful outdoor venue. What can fans expect from the July 26th show in Shelburne?

"Well any place in Vermont is beautiful," Etheridge begins graciously. "I've played Burlington, I've played Stowe… Usually, every tour I get up there.

"As for this show…" she pauses. "If you've enjoyed my work before you will not be disappointed. With this show I'm telling a story, this time… The Awakening album is a concept and it's got a timeline in it - but every night I actually choose different songs - (except for the handful that everyone would like to hear every night) - I'll tell my story [and it will have] the excitement of rock n' roll and a little bit of spirit and it's just going to be… great!"

Margaret Michniewicz is editor of Vermont Woman, and can be reached at editor@vermontwoman.com.